LIX

  Burning hot pain seared through him as the ball of fire hit him. Due to his bewilderment of a ball of fire coming towards him, he failed to activate his [ Mana Shield ]. The only good thing to come from this attack was that it removed any fatigue that was building from his previous fight as well as the aftereffect of drowsiness from the health potion.

  Shaking his head, he regained his focus, eyeing the Shaman that was in front of him. The Shaman was eerily similar to him, from the height to the robes that it wore. This Shaman managed to cast a ball of fire at him. While it did burn, he didn’t feel like he was actually on fire, and with a quick glance downwards, he confirmed that he wasn’t on fire.

  That was the interesting part of mana infused attacks. One would feel the sensation of the affinity wash over them, but in reality, they were not visibly affected from what he knew. He summoned his [ Mana Shield ] as the next burst of fire flew towards him, a bright red ball of fire that amazed him. Kaz always loved fire, and seeing it up close in action made him almost commit to getting hit again.

  With a small sliver of regret, he watched as the ball of fire crash into his [ Mana Shield ]. It exploded against his shield of mana, and to his surprise, he still felt the heat wash over him, slightly hotter than what was comfortable, but not burning. The bright flash of fire blinded his vision momentarily, and once he regained his vision, he made eye contact with the robed goblin.

  They stared each other down, and Kaz felt his Mana Core rumble. He understood what his Mana Core was itching for, and it was something he was itching to use as well. Once he absorbed the fire attack from the Shaham, he cast [ Mana Siphon ].

  Immediately, a wispy thread of fiery red mana rushed towards him. Instead of turning silver to match his own mana, it remained red. With a burning sensation, the mana rushed throughout his body. He closed his eyes as his head tilted upwards, relishing in the bliss of the fire mana that circulated throughout his body.

  He heard whimpering and his eyes snapped open, looking for the source. Kaz saw the Shaman, who now pulled its hood back, revealing a female looking goblin with long, disheveled hair. Her eyes were wide open in shock, frozen to the spot.

  Kaz understood the state of confusion the Shaman was in, as his Ability was quite the spectacle. It also made him wonder what caused the whimpering, almost as if the Shaman was in pain. Almost as if his Mana Core spoke to him, he suddenly envisioned himself losing a lot of his Mana Points in a matter of seconds.

  It brought back the memory of when the Mana Point cost of his [ Mana Burst ] went up, and how when he used the enhanced speed variant, he panicked when his Mana Points took a huge hit. At that time, it was only around 20 Mana Points, and he couldn’t imagine the shock of losing 100 Mana Points.

  He had no gauge on how many Mana Points this Shaman possessed, but he wouldn’t doubt that a hundred was no number that it could simply shrug off. Kaz watched with interest as the Shaman raised her hands shakily, and cast another fireball towards him. He casually brought up his [ Mana Shield ], and something interesting happened to him once the fireball crashed against his shield.

  Where before he felt the heat washing over him, in an uncomfortable way, now, it was perfectly warm. He felt his Mana Core pulse again, and without a second thought, he cast his [ Lightning Burst ]. The sensation was different, and mentally, he was prompted with a choice to use his own affinity, of lightning, or use the 50 Mana Points of the fire affinity mana.

  With a face splitting grin, he opted for the fire mana. Pure heat radiated throughout his body, going through his mana channels, with his Mana Core being a furnace. He watched as an unstable ball of fire form in his hands, and with a sound of crackling wood when it’s on fire, it sped off towards the goblin. He bounced on his feet as he watched, unable to contain the surge of energy that was running through him.

  The Shaman just stood there, frozen as the fire construct rushed towards it. Not attempting to block it or anything, the fire attack crashed straight into its midsection. The explosion of flames quickly enveloped the Shaman, but soon vanished as it had done with him. It grunted in pain, but that only seemed to break its stupor.

  It began chanting, and Kaz could only shake his head in disappointment as the Shaman began glowing black, just like the Elite Stonerock Goblin. Kaz wondered how this could even help the goblin, as it wasn’t a physical fighter, only a Mage like one that relied on casting Abilities from a distance. Soon, his questions would be answered.

  Before he could even blink, a fireball was streaking towards his face, way faster than before. He quickly summoned a [ Mana Shield ] that covered his face, and he could feel the intense heat washing over his head, even below to his midsection.

  Once his barely cleared from the flames, another fireball streaked towards him, this one a very dark red. His Mana Core screamed at him, as did his [ Evasive Step ], but he adjusted his [ Mana Shield ] to absorb the hit. When the attack landed against his shield, he staggered slightly, immediately feeling a huge drop in his Health Points.

  He quickly learned his lesson: dark red fireball, avoid. With not even a second to recuperate to fight back, he felt another fire construct rushing towards him. With an annoyed huff, he summoned his [ Mana Shield ] on his left forearm and swatted the mana attack away. It flew into the ground beside him, and he wondered if that counted as a parry. He felt his Mana Core vibrate, and he assumed that was his confirmation.

  As the onslaught of fireballs continued, he had to mix in his [ Evasive Step ] with his [ Mana Shield ], unsure if he could take all the damage. He wondered when the effect the Shaman imposed on itself would end, as it felt like he had been trying to survive this barrage of attacks for too long now. He was panting hard, drenched in sweat, and he didn’t even know if it was from pushing himself, or from the heat of the flames.

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  Finally, once the attacks slowed down, he was able to finally focus on his own Abilities. The only problem that he had previously was his cast time, which took three seconds on average. So, when the Shaman was sending attacks his way every two or so seconds, he didn’t have the chance to complete his own casting, and he would’ve had to take a hit or two.

  He wasn’t a fan of the damage the dark red fireball did, and with the amount of damage the other attacks were chipping away from him, he was not going to risk unleashing his own Ability when he didn’t know how many Health Points the Shaman had. Kaz cast his own [ Lightning Burst ], opting for his own affinity, and he watched as it slammed into the Shaman. He noticed that the goblin’s black glow was now fading to a subtle gray, becoming more and more transparent.

  With the buff running out on the goblin, he decided to push forward, casting [ Lightning Burst ] after [ Lightning Burst ]. When he felt like the Shaman was slowing down, he attempted his [ Mana Siphon ], hoping he could recover some of his Mana Points, which had dwindled down considerably after his usage of his [ Mana Shield ] and barrage of [ Lightning Burst ].

  His siphoning was effective, and this time, the fiery red mana transitioned into his silver mana through the process, immediately turning into Mana Points he could use right away. He managed to get three seconds in before the Shaman went into a frenzy mode, sending a quick fire ball at him. Doing the quick math in his head, six seconds meant 60 Mana Points, and with his fifty percent absorption rate, that means he recovered roughly 30 Mana Points. It wasn’t much, but it was still better than nothing.

  Deciding to try something, he opted for a quick variant of his [ Lightning Burst ], sending the lightning construct flying towards the enemy at the blink of an eye.

  As he was hoping for, the Shaman got stunned by the sudden attack. He capitalized on this opportunity and cast another [ Mana Siphon ]. Thankfully the cooldown was already over, so he wouldn’t have to wait for it to finish. With a nudge from his Mana Core, he decided to let it take control. He realized that the fire mana was not transforming into his own affinity, and he wondered why. He shrugged his shoulders, and finished the cast.

  The Shaman shook off its stunned state, and seemed to waver unsteadily in place. He recognized that it might be the effects of being low on Mana Points. With a smirk, he decided to cast, but to his disbelief, the Shaman turned around and ran inside the hut. He blinked several times, and even his [ Lightning Burst ] didn’t finish casting.

  He gripped his glaive tightly and approached the hut cautiously. He uncovered the flap of leather at the entrance and entered the hut.

  Two things grabbed his attention. The first thing he noticed were three massive cages filled the hut. Two of them were occupied by people. These are the two prisoners that he would have to free. And second, a black looking knife was fast approaching him from edge of his vision to the side. He reflexively cast his [ Mana Shield ] and aimed his forearm to deflect it.

  To his shock, the blade pierced through his shield, but thankfully the blade got stuck in shield. The blade was humming and it gave him this uneasy sense of dread, trying to whisper things to him. The goblin did everything it could to push it further, but his mana would not budge anymore. Getting over the bewilderment of it getting through his shield, and also the blade’s effect on him, he shoved the goblin Shaman back with the shaft of his glaive.

  Due to the weak nature of the goblin, it fell backwards, and Kaz wasted no time in driving his glaive straight through its chest. He watched as blue blood spilled out and black mana dispersed out. Kaz immediately retreated backwards, not knowing what that black mana was. After what felt like thirty seconds, full of groaning and chanting, the goblin Shaman finally succumbed. Its body disappeared as all monsters do.

  To his delight, the knife disappeared with the Shaman, along with all the ominous black mana. The only thing that was left was a singular Gold Token, to which Kaz quickly picked up, not wanting to forget that.

  He then turned his attention to the cages where the prisoners were. He strode over to them, and he could feel the fire mana surging within him, fueling his anger. Kaz examined the cages, and wondered how to open them. He looked around and saw the keys on a desk that was on the opposite side of the hut. He unlocked the cages and brought out the unconscious people. One of them was a Gnome, so it wasn’t as hard to drag her out, but the other was a large Dwarf, so he barely dragged him out of the cage.

  Once they were out of the cage, he wondered how he should go about getting them out of the camp. Should he wait for them to wake up? But what if they were like this because they were dying?

  That thought quickly prompted him to take out his last two Health Potions, and he poured the bright red liquid down their mouths, making sure to elevate their heads so they wouldn’t choke on it, even though it was a small amount. Immediately, the two began stirring, and they both quickly shot up, looking around in a panicked state.

  Kaz immediately spoke up, trying to reassure them, “It’s okay, you two are safe now. Come with me, we need to leave this camp before any other enemies come to us.”

  They immediately nodded with a hesistant look in their eyes, and stood up. They looked around, and Kaz wondered what they were looking for, until he spotted the weapons laying on the ground near a chest. They both walked over and grabbed their gear, and the Dwarf meekly spoke up, “Thank you, lad. We’re ready to go.”

  In silence, Kaz led them to the entrance of the camp in a rush, and once they were outside the camp, Kaz remembered he forgot the sword for his Quest, so he told them, “I need to go back in, I forgot something. Wait here for me.”

  As he was rushing through the camp, he could feel his Mana Core bubbling, and he was suddenly feeling more and more angry. How could these monsters take and imprison people? Why were they even in an abandoned camp? And what was the deal with that Shaman?

  With his thoughts spiraling out of control, his Mana Core leaked out the fire mana, as he realized the five minutes was up. He still had some remaining, and before he could even realize what he was doing, he sent out several bursts of fire into the wooden structures, lighting everything ablaze.

  His Mana Core fueled his anger, and seemed to enjoy the moment of madness. As he neared the end of the remaining fire mana, he calmed down and realized that he had just lost control. With horror, he watched as the whole camp was aflame, with some Goblins that he didn’t slay were running around in panic.

  He zoned in on the sword lying in the distance and quickly approached it. Grabbing it with some difficulty due to its large size and weight, he slung it over his shoulder, making sure to put the staff of his glaive near his neck, to prevent the sword’s blade from cutting his head off. He hurried across the camp, full of smoke and ash now, causing him to cough out as his lungs were filling with it.

  The two survivors recoiled slightly at his approach, and their faces paled. It was the Gnome who spoke up, asking him in horror, “What did you do?”